Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Communit‪y‬ Torrian L Baskerville, Bianca Ward, Nicole Elinoff, Isaiah Webster III

Co-hosts Isaiah and Nicole sit down with co-collaborators in the South, the Latino Commission on AIDS, to discuss two of their programs: Hands United and Latinos in the South. The most guests on the podcast yet, conversations center on language justice, collaborations in the South, capacity building, and their respective journeys in the work.

Guest: Judith Montenegro, Bolivar (Bolo) Nieto, and Gabriela Betancourt

For the very first time, all four co-hosts: Bianca (Capricorn/Leo), Nicole (Scorpio/Aquarius), Torrian (Virgo/Virgo), and Isaiah (Aries/Scorpio) join the same podcast to discuss how it all came together and why. The quartet discusses their hosting styles, their Southern charms, and the many NASTAD resources available to community-based organizations.

Richard Hutchinson, Co-founder and Executive Director of He Is Valuable Incorporated, joins Bianca and Torrian to discuss how He Is Valuable's many programs address the ever-present challenges in the South, the concept of "radical visibility" to empower Black gay men, and the power of declarations when manifesting the world around you.

Veteran; public health advocate; public servant. Neil Rafferty, director of Birmingham Comprehensive High Impact Prevention (B-CHIP) for Birmingham AIDS Outreach, wears many hats. Neil talks to hosts Nicole and Isaiah about why he continues to devote his public service efforts to Alabama, and what led to his decision to seek (and win!) a seat in the Alabama House of Representatives. The hosts even had some suggestions for Neil on potential categories for his next ball walk.

On this episode of Southern Steep, podcast hosts Nicole and Torrian talk with Daniel J. Downer, Founder and Executive Director of the Bros in Convo Initiative, on being a Black queer man leading a community-based organization in the South, the importance of investing in the community, and how the Bros in Convo Initiative is intentionally investing in the community of Central Florida.

On this inaugural episode of Southern Steep, podcast hosts Bianca and Isaiah talk with Ashley Tarrant of Medical Advocacy and Outreach (MAO) on her work as Chief Operating Officer and how she discovered her "calling" as a doula in the Montgomery, AL community.